From the Bride... Braden and I met on June 25th, 2013 during the week of my sister's wedding in Martha's Vineyard. We flirted a bit but Braden was hesitant to make a move because of our six year age difference (I was 22 at the time and he was 28). I saw no issue with the age difference so I made the first move and we had an amazing time hanging out at the wedding.

After that there was no one else! Braden was working in Baltimore at the time but his home base was North Carolina while I lived in Boston. Despite the distance, we saw each other almost every weekend. On March 20th, 2014 while on vacation in Aruba, Braden asked me to marry him at this beautiful nature pool surrounded by the ocean. After a year of traveling to see each other I moved to North Carolina in June 2014 to be closer to him. We decided to get married in Connecticut because my favorite place in the world is where I spent my summers growing up, Groton Long Point, CT. I had never pictured myself getting married any other place. We found a beautiful vineyard nearby in North Stonington and decided it was the perfect location. Our rehearsal dinner was in Groton Long Point and the wedding was at the Vineyard. During the whole wedding process we decided to up our stress level and build a house at the same time, we move in at the end of October!

Our wedding planner, True Event, was essential in pointing us towards some of the best vendors in the industry. Their knowledge and experience helped us avoid the wedding-day horror stories that everybody fears, and the entire weekend was accomplished without a single hiccup!

Yumiko from Hana Floral was one of the most important wedding vendors. My florist really took my vision and brought it to life. She was willing and able to do anything I wanted and was able to give me suggestions as well.

I really could not have done it without my paper designer, Mekala from Tie That Binds. She helped me design the most amazing invitations and from there every other paper detail at the wedding you could imagine. I asked her if we could do invitations on real wood and she went out of her way to make it happen! From there we then did welcome bags, matchboxes, welcome bags, and do not disturb door hangers and menus on real wood as well! She designed the most beautiful floral image off of inspiration flowers photos I sent her and was able to incorporate it beautifully into each piece. I was also extremely picky about the font I used and she went above and beyond to make sure it was exactly how I liked it. I clearly wasn't the easiest client to work with but she made it seem like I was! She went above and beyond!

My hair stylist and makeup artists were wonderful. Jennie Fresa and her crew really took my ideas and made them come to life. I couldn't have been happier with my hair especially!

My caterer, Russell Morin was great. They were so easy to work with and made some amazing food. I asked them to make me a cheese table for cocktail hour and I wanted them to create a cake out of cheeses (a cheese cake, but made from just cheese!); they did an amazing job putting it together and made it exactly how I pictured it! The rest of the food was just as amazing!

Ana Parzych Cakes was also incredible. She really created a piece of art with her sugar flowers that were almost identical to my wedding flowers!

Kleinfelds also were a crucial part to my wedding because they helped me find and alter my dream dress! I had seen my dress on a "Grey's Anatomy" a few years back and we showed Kleinfeld a picture of it so they could get an idea of what I was looking for, and it turns out they had the exact dress! I felt like the luckiest girl ever. Because it was such a delicate dress I was very nervous about them altering it but they did a beautiful job!

Our band, the Rhythm Collective... amazing! They made every song sound like the original and everyone wanted them to continue so bad after the reception was over. They came onto the dance floor at one point and sang and danced with the crowd and that got everyone even more excited.

Ryan Designs was also a big part of the day! They were in charge of setting up the tent draping and hanging the lanterns/lights. But they also custom made the most beautiful ceremony doors for us and a beautiful ceremony archway.